When a company wants to purchase a list of items, they look for someone willing to sell those items for the lowest price.

This list may be called a bill of materials (BOM), request for quote (RFQ) or request for proposal (RFP).

Brian Estes, founder, president and CEO of BOMbids LLC thought he could improve the experience for everyone involved.

“During my 25 years selling automation controls equipment to Fortune 500 companies I always envisioned a more efficient way to find opportunities versus the old school – and current method – of being in the right place at the right time to uncover sales opportunities,” he said in an email. “I always thought if there was a national marketplace of all procurement needs from all business purchasing managers, the vendors would find, evaluate and participate in these opportunities.”

The Wilmington-based company, founded in 2013, expanded its national sales presence and launched its site earlier this year.

Its website (bombids.com) is designed for ease-of-use and with the both the buyer’s and seller’s peace of mind in mind, officials said.

“Both buyers and sellers will perform a typical profile sign-up. We use this data to vet each participating company with Dunn & Bradstreet, credit scores and Paydex scores,” Estes said. “We do this detailed vetting process to provide a level of comfort for all participants proving out their potential business partners.”

After that, there are a couple of types of bidding that can take place including closed bids and reverse bids, which is like what you see on eBay, where the current price is viewable in real time.

“It is the largest purchasing BOM marketplace in the world by default. There is no other landing spot for any and all BOM, RFQ or RFPs. We have also successfully patented this process so the marketplace should be a unique feature we can build on,” Estes said.

There are other sites that fulfill similar needs but only for one industry or another, he said.

“BOMbids is focused on improving the entire B2B procurement process, not targeted toward a particular industry. Our Bill of Materials Marketplace provides the same benefits and advantages across many industry segments including manufacturing, construction, wholesale distribution, petroleum and gas, athletics, electrical, hospitality and medical,” Estes said.

He described it as “fully transparent and open to anyone.”

Sellers pay a $35 fee when signing up. A buyer doesn’t pay to list a bill of material, and sellers are not charged fees to bid. Winning sellers pay a transaction fee of 2.9 percent on a successful sale, according to the company’s website.

The site had its soft launch Feb. 10, and the response has been positive, Estes said.

“[We] have proven the software, website and all processes,” he said. “We are getting very good national acceptance within many businesses. Our current efforts are introducing and training the concept across many industry segments at once.”

Estes and his team are working on new features for the future. 

“There are a few other business processes we have in the works for phase two and phase three of BOMbids using the platform as the foundation,” he said. “We feel this is what is called a disruptive innovation and can truly be viewed as a win-win for all parties involved.”